Dublin City Center Proposes Major Pedestrian Overhaul

Dublin City Council recently unveiled a plan that, if accepted, will radically change traffic patterns in front of Trinity College and allow for easier flow of pedestrians. Under the proposed changes, College Green, the major thoroughfare that flows directly to the college’s gates, will be transformed into a large pedestrian plaza.

A new, wider pedestrian crossing will connect the entrance to Trinity with the College Green walkway. The College Green plaza would block all vehicular traffic from crossing from the Green to Dame Street. Cars, buses, and taxis will run north and south along the Luas line (currently under construction, which will connect the city’s north and south lines) in front of the Trinity gates.

The plan is still in early discussion stages, as the plaza would dramatically change many city bus routes. “There are difficulties with whether we can cater for buses,” council chief executive Owen Keegan told The Irish Times. “Those issues are not resolved.”

College Green is bordered by Trinity’s gates and the Bank of Ireland (in a building that housed the Irish parliament until 1800) and it features statues of Henry Grattan, a member of the Irish House of Commons who campaigned for parliamentary freedom in the 18th century, and of Thomas Davis, the main organizer of the Young Ireland movement. According to the plans, these memorial statues on the Green will remain in place once the plaza is fully pedestrianized. ♦